Palm's failure to take on iPhone casts doubt on Nokia, Microsoft

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  • Reply 21 of 116
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by akhomerun View Post


    Nokia makes the most popular smartphones in the world. This excludes the US because Nokia doesn't want to bother with CDMA phones that are basically only used in the US.



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone



    Not a very good argument, as Apple doesn't bother with CDMA either.



    Also, Nokia has been in this market a lot longer than Apple. The amount if share Apple has managed to grab in the last three years is nothing less than astounding, especially for a company that got it's start 5 years after the others.
  • Reply 22 of 116
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Two things spelled doom for Palm.



    1 - Palm has for many years been run by a bunch of monkeys. I developed for Palm for many years and management essentially abandoned the developers, took whatever money was around and ran for the hills. Palm colleagues of mine that praised Palm's introduction and tried to woo me back to develop for them ended up leaving Palm only to say afterwards that management hasn't changed.



    2 - You can have the most amazing product in the world that can do everything and anything you want, but if you don't market it right, it will fail. Palm did a seriously whack job with the Pre. Signing exclusively on a network nobody uses, botching the SDK, inferior build quality, the iTunes syncing fiasco, and everything else one can think. Apple had the marketing machine on full swing. Everyone including their 3-month-old infants knew it was coming. Palm Pre came out of the gate at a crawl only to trip on its own feet.



    That's where Rubenstein and the defected Apple-engineers went wrong. They just didn't understand the other side of the equation about having to sell what you make. If anything, their time at Apple should have given them a slight clue as to how that is done.



    If I ever review an applicant and they are clumsy enough to include management experience at Palm, I will show them the door right then and there.



    I do think it funny reading posts from a year ago about all the anti-iPhone fanboys whining at the top of their lungs as to how the multitasking, tethering, replaceable battery, superior-in-every-way Pre was going to spell an end to the iPhone. They seem to be unusually quiet about this particular subject. They must be stuffing their faces with humble-pie at the burger-joint down the road.
  • Reply 23 of 116
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by akhomerun View Post


    Nokia makes the most popular smartphones in the world. This excludes the US because Nokia doesn't want to bother with CDMA phones that are basically only used in the US.



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone



    EDIT: Better link, showing Nokia's share rather than Symbian: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61B1MA20100212



    LOL - McDonald's sells the most hamburgers but that doesn't make them a Steak House. And how ignorant can you be? Nokia doesn't' need to sell CDMA phones in the US to be successful. There is a huge addressable GSM market here just like in Europe.
  • Reply 24 of 116
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    You cannot seriously compare Palm (a one hit wonder) to Microsoft. Even starting over from scratch Microsoft has the clout and money to promote Windows Phone Series 7 for many years to come. Palm has at best a year before they'll have to put themselves up for sale.



    Nokia is also not comparable. Though Nokia isn't very popular here they are in Europe and elsewhere. They too can reinvent themselves and do well eventually.



    I see Palm getting bought-up soon. Apple should just acquire them for their IP and engineering staff (former Apple employees) minus Jon.
  • Reply 25 of 116
    rco3rco3 Posts: 76member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post


    I do think it funny reading posts from a year ago about all the anti-iPhone fanboys whining at the top of their lungs as to how the multitasking, tethering, replaceable battery, superior-in-every-way Pre was going to spell an end to the iPhone. They seem to be unusually quiet about this particular subject. They must be stuffing their faces with humble-pie at the burger-joint down the road.



    No time to eat, they're too busy telling you that the only dozen people who will buy the "iKotex" are children who are too dumb to type. And secretly trying to decide if they want the 3G version or not.
  • Reply 26 of 116
    I was so excited about WebOS when it was first introduced. Even still, with Palm's recently introduced NDK for developing native applications/games, they show considerable technical talent with expert integration directly in XCode.



    But, like many others are saying, they just do not know how to sell. The biggest features that interest me in the WebOS platform, they never even talk about! The beautifully user-friendly integration of all a user's existing email/im/contacts/calendar accounts, integrated context-sensitive task/todo list accessible when a person is called or calls, and able to be used as a wifi hotspot.



    The last two features are just awesome features for getting things done for both individuals as well as demanding business professionals. I hope PALM is eventually able to pull itself out of this rut because I really think WebOS has the potential to be a credible iPhoneOS platform competitor but they really do need some help in the marketing and manufacturing departments.
  • Reply 27 of 116
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member
    Why is Microsoft being compared with Palm? Microsoft isn't dumb enough to launch with just one carrier, MS has a lot of marketing/advertising power, and MS already has a slew of hardware and software vendors lined up.



    Seems like AI is making a pretty big leap here.
  • Reply 28 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jdsonice View Post


    Seriously there is really no real competitor to the iPhone. Most other vendors are not really looking at developing cool things they are busy killing the iPhone and doing a horrible job of it.



    The iPhone is not for everyone but when there is nothing else people have no choice. And the iPhone is not a bad choice at all so once you get it you stick with it.



    Yes I know that Android blah blah blah.. but hey Steve is still the KING! Long Live the King.



    JD



    I agree. Someone should put their s**t together and get a decent platform for those who hate Apple/hate SJ/don't like the iPhone etc... until then, we'll have them trolling all the way through the Mac forums, out of envy.
  • Reply 29 of 116
    dr millmossdr millmoss Posts: 5,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTel View Post


    You cannot seriously compare Palm (a one hit wonder) to Microsoft.



    A two-hit wonder? Really, aside from that, the difference isn't so great. The principal one remaining being: Microsoft has even more resources to sink into money-losing projects formulated more out of desperation than wisdom. Microsoft has been so successful with all of their years in mobility that they're wiping the slate and starting over -- again?



    Not that this is necessarily 100% good news for Apple. The mighty do have a way of falling.
  • Reply 30 of 116
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ifail View Post




    Microsoft has billions in the bank to back their platform with an even better SDK than Apple and will have widespread release amongst launch. Same for Nokia as well they have tons of money to keep their products afloat for quite some time.



    Right. We've seen what MS does with its billions in the consumer segment. Sweet F all.



    Judging by the garbage that rolls out of Redmond on a regular basis, you'd think all those billions have been set aside for coffee runs and new chairs.



    MS' billions have resulted in a lot of Ballmerian "rounding error" excuses. MS is a big joke. Hopefully they won't turn Windows Mobile 7 Series whatever into another punchline.



    As for Nokia: crap floats. What else is new.
  • Reply 31 of 116
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member
    definitely don't agree with Prince Dan's article, about what Palm's failure portends for MS and Nokia.



    Palm's Pre failed for many reasons specific to Palm, as noted in the comments. but most of all, even had it been done better, it was always a stand-alone product with no larger existing ecosystem of software, web services and hardware. going up against the tremendous Apple ecosystem, that was really hopeless. and then Android comes along with at least a Google web ecosystem. so bye-bye Palm.



    both MS and Nokia already have pieces of an ecosystem. they are trying hard to assemble them into a real package this year - the WinPhone 7/Zune/XBox combo, and the Nokia Ovi complex with its huge global cheap featurephone base.



    how well they do remains to be seen. but they are lightyears ahead of Palm in this regard already. so Palm's failure is not a good indicator of how they will do.
  • Reply 32 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rhyde View Post


    Please, please, please...

    When Palm goes belly up, would they please release BeOS as open source?

    Please?



    Unfortunately Palm sold BeOS to ACCESS Co., Ltd a long time ago. So...



    Had Palm developed WebOS immediately after purchasing BeOS and it's brilliant ex-Apple engineers, they would have released WebOS before the iPhone and would have been very successful. But they chose to sell it to ACCESS and go the Linux route. That was stupid and deadly.



    In my opinion, iPhone OS is to Mac OS X what WebOS should have been to BeOS.

    The resemblance is clear. Unfortunately for Palm the fate is also clear.



    Time will tell.
  • Reply 33 of 116
    daveswdavesw Posts: 406member
    Palm tried to do too much, with too little, too soon.
  • Reply 34 of 116
    cvaldes1831cvaldes1831 Posts: 1,832member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davesw View Post


    Palm tried to do too much, with too little, too soon.



    You mean too late.



    Palm's webOS would have been competitive had it released a year earlier. They also bungled their SDK release (also late).
  • Reply 35 of 116
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    Sure... Whatever...
  • Reply 36 of 116
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Every silly post was countered by an intelligent one, as expected, so I don't have anything else to add.



    But I do have a question: Who do you think will buy Palm, if anyone, and for what use?
  • Reply 37 of 116
    ifailifail Posts: 463member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Right. We've seen what MS does with its billions in the consumer segment. Sweet F all.



    Judging by the garbage that rolls out of Redmond on a regular basis, you'd think all those billions have been set aside for coffee runs and new chairs.



    MS' billions have resulted in a lot of Ballmerian "rounding error" excuses. MS is a big joke. Hopefully they won't turn Windows Mobile 7 Series whatever into another punchline.



    As for Nokia: crap floats. What else is new.



    Well, I would say they spent a few billion making windows a great operating system this generation and making xbox 360 an amazing living room device that Apples ATV can't even compete with.



    Even if you don't like Nokia they still have quite a stranglehold on the smartphone space and has enough money to keep their platform going, just like Microsoft.



    Palm doesn't have the dough to keep fighting, and Palm made some SERIOUS errors that has brought about it's impending downfall
  • Reply 38 of 116
    avidfcpavidfcp Posts: 381member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TECHSTUD View Post


    Lesson learned- Don't make tiny plasticy buttons and expect to be taken seriously. Add to that your new reputation as a hacker and you only put the knife in deeper.



    Cool sig. Anway. I think windows phones might do well. Was just reading if you can write for xbox you can write for their new phones. But can someone PLEASE TELL ME WHY does some of microsofts new phone text go missing off the screen. Make it smaller. That's insane.
  • Reply 39 of 116
    tawilsontawilson Posts: 484member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nikon133 View Post


    I wouldn't mind having WebOS in my iPhone, presuming that Application Store and iTunes integration would be the same, for good or bad...



    WebOS is nice, but I'd never want it over iPhone OS, not unless something drastically awesome happened (which seems highly unlikely).
  • Reply 40 of 116
    tawilsontawilson Posts: 484member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Avidfcp View Post


    Cool sig. Anway. I think windows phones might do well. Was just reading if you can write for xbox you can write for their new phones.



    Obviously it's a little more complicated than that. I mean, if you can write for Mac OS X, you can write for iPhone, but there are still a ton of other considerations and inner-working intricacies that need to be taken into account.



    Quote:

    But can someone PLEASE TELL ME WHY does some of microsofts new phone text go missing off the screen. Make it smaller. That's insane.



    It's part of the whole design. It's fine...I think, a fresh idea. I didn't like it at first, but it has grown on me. I love the WinPho7 UI and those Sergoe fonts are absolutely awesome!
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